tumbling through the looking glass
by hyacinthian
Summary: The Others come on a Monday. ToshOwen AU.


They fall through the rift one day. Monday. Traffic on the A4119. Tea at 10. Paperwork. All in all, everything stays the same.

Tosh shatters a teacup when she sees them. She is quick to sweep up the shards, ceramic with gold decoration, as the Others stare at them, open-mouthed.

Gwen's mouth opens and closes a few times; she says nothing. Ianto crosses his arms over his chest, suspicious. Jack purses his lips.

"Well," the Other Owen says, "It's good to see you."

-

The Other Tosh wears a pastel summer dress, something that Gwen can't wrap her mind around. Tosh, this Tosh, dresses herself in grays, blacks - high-contrast colors that mute. And when the Others twine their fingers together, that just makes the situation even weirder.

"This doesn't make any sense," Owen says.

"The Rift isn't even open," Tosh says.

Other Tosh squints. "Well, that is strange." The Toshes move off towards a corner together, pencils in hand, ready to calculate the disturbance in the Force. They chatter and giggle like friends. Real Owen can't really get used to the sight and sound of Tosh acting so... immaturely. Youthful. She always seemed so staid. The Other Owen sits nonchalantly, drinks his tea.

"You're not backlogged on autopsies or anything, are you?" he asks, off-handedly. "I'm kind of bored."

"Well," Owen says. "I'm dead."

The Other raises his eyebrows. "The Weevils?" Real Owen nods as the Toshes suddenly burst into soft laughter. "What about you and Tosh?" The Other asks.

"What about me and Tosh?"

"How did she react to the --" He gives a shrug. "You aren't--"

Owen laughs, shakes his head. "No. Definitely not. Tosh and I are frie -- we work together." The Other arches a brow, nods.

"Where I come from," The Other says, "I didn't die."

Good for you, Owen thinks. "I did."

-

Jack makes the Others stay in one of the cells. They don't object - there are dangers involved in crossing universes. There are dangers involved; he doesn't really understand the Time-Space Continuum but there are always correcting forces at work.

-

They're not as secretive as they should be. Owen catches them one night, in one of the corners near the holding cells. Other's hand nearly dwarfs hers, and Other Tosh makes some sort of contented sound in the back of her throat that he's very familiar with - just not that familiar with it coming out of Tosh, alternate reality, parallel universe, or no.

He averts his eyes - his presence feels like an intrusion.

-

Over wine, Tosh says, "It's so strange, isn't it?" She purses her lips and he tries not to notice how the wine makes her lips redder.

"What?"

"Them. Us. But not us."

"Look at where we work," he gripes. "We've chased aliens down in cars before. What's so different?"

(I'm happy, Other Tosh confesses to real Tosh, with a smile. You should be too.)

-

They start to fade away one day, skin growing slightly see-through. It happens to Other Tosh first and they don't know what to do. Real Tosh clings to Other Tosh with watery eyes, and they whisper things back and forth in Japanese. Other Owen doesn't say anything, just watches her as he remains solid, watches as she starts to disappear.

Weeks later, when Tosh tries to comfort him, he shakes her off (she's not the real thing).

When they've both disappeared, Tosh doesn't say anything, doesn't react, doesn't mourn - she just sinks back into her routine. She strays into the background, working on statistics and figures for them when they need them. She doesn't fight, he realizes. She prepares for the inevitable.

"Tosh," he says, one day, and she turns, smiling.

"Yes, Owen?"

He can see it in her eyes. She expects some sort of grand revelation on his part, a declaration of love or at least friendship, though he doesn't have any of those emotions in his heart. He can't think of anything to say so she just retreats back to her desk, cleaning up at the end of the day.

"Fancy a drink?"

She beams. "Yes."

(Decades later, the Rift begins to crumble - there is a convergence of Universes.)


End file.
